A Fading Chariot
by Mr Waffle
Summary: Polnareff had some unfinished business to attend to, and Giorno was happy to help.


It was a rather sunny day in Naples, most people where hiding from the suns bright rays by wearing hats or ducking under the padios of restaurants.

But not Giorno Giovanna.

He loved the sun, he basked in its golden rays and its unyielding warmth, he enjoyed every moment of it. It was as if he had been forced to live without the sun for over a century, and was just finally let back into its light.

Yet he was not alone on his midday stroll, he was accompanied by a friend.

Jean Pierre Polnareff was sitting idly on Giorno's shoulder, as was the ever present turtle and key that he was forced to spend his remaining life (unlife?) with.

"So, Polnareff," Giorno began to inquire, "what does he look like?"

The semi-transparent figure smiled, "Well... I haven't seen him in many years, so his style may have changed since then, but he does give off an unmistakable aura that I'm sure you'll feel when you see him."

The blonde raised an eyebrow and eyed the restaurants and tourist hubs surrounding him, looking for any standouts in the crowd.

"I'm afraid I don't see hi-"

And then it happened, a shudder that was not a shudder, a breeze up his spine, and strange feeling, as though there was a strange string connecting his back something behind it.

Giorno turned, and saw where the invisible ties led.

A man dressed in a long white coat, pants, and a hat with golden dolphins adorning it, as well as other marine symbols.

They stared at each other, Giorno could tell the man was a powerful stand user from his presence alone... but there was something else, as though the same invisible string that he felt earlier was not only still there, but it got stronger as he looked at him.

It reminded him of how Trish explained how she could sense her father Diavolo...

"Sir," Giorno said with a slight bow. "Are you Jotaro Kujo?"

The tall man nodded, "And you're Giorno Giovanna... Koichi told me a bit about you."

_'That foreigner I ran into...' _Giorno remembered.

Jotaro gestured to a nearby restuarant.

"Perhaps we should sit down while we talk?" He said.

Giorno nodded, "Certainly, however that particular restuarant is overpriced, I know a good place just around the corner, if you'll follow me."

"Fine with me. But first-"

Something odd occurred, one second- no, not even a second, the turtle _instantaneously _teleported from Giorno's shoulder to Jotaro's hand.

"What?!?" Giorno revealed his stand, but Jotaro barely took notice.

"..."

"..."

"Polnareff?" Jotaro whispered.

Polnareff chuckled lightly, "it's been awhile, eh Jotaro?"

———

"-after that, we discovered his body had been found by the local police department, stabbed to death by an unknown culprit." Giorno finished.

Jotaro sipped his coffee, and looked out the window. His stoic features remained impassive, yet his eyes gave away a look of relief.

"It was impressive what you did, and I appreciate that you helped Polnareff." The Japanese man spoke.

"Our goals aligned, though I was happy to help." Giorno answered.

Jotaro nodded, and looked out the window more, before turning back to face Polnareff in the table.

"So why'd you decide to stick around? And not, well... you know," Jotaro made a strange hand fluttering motion, "go to heaven?"

Polnareff smilied, "still not the most eloquent of speakers, are you?"

Jotaro scrowled, "Shut up."

Polnareff gave a jovial laugh, and cracked the widest shit-eating grin Giorno had ever witnessed.

"You haven't changed a bit, you act more mature and dress in white, but you're still the punk I knew in 89', Jotaro." The Frenchman said.

Jotaro's scowl turned into a sigh, "And you still have a constant shit-eating grin on your face."

Polnareff laughed again, but his face resumed quickly back to normal.

"So... I missed your wedding."

At that moment, the room froze.

"Yeah, I had you slotted to be my best man, and you never showed up. Though I guess you atleast had a valid excuse, being crippled and all."

"If you don't mind me asking, how is your wife? And your daughter?"

Jotaro looked out the window.

"Jolyne... she's doing well, just turned 10..."

Polnareff noticed Jotaro didn't mention his wife, and didn't press the questioning any further.

"To answer your earlier question," Polnareff began again. "I felt as though I had a few points of unfinished business to attend too. One, I needed to talk with you, and made sure no more Requiem arrows existed."

"Yeah, as I told you earlier me and my... 'Uncle' Josuke ran into a stand that sort of matched the bill, but it was caused by some psycho getting hit by an arrow twice."

"You're 'uncle' sounds interesting, I'd like to meet him one day." Giorno spoke up.

Jotaro glanced at the blonde, "I'm sure you would get along, your Stands sound quite similar to each other. Which usually displays shared character traits by which you might bond over-"

"You're going into a scientific rant again, Jojo." Polnareff deadpanned, "honestly, out of all the fields you could haven chosen, _Marine Biology?_ Why-"

"Yare yare daze, none of your business, Polnareff," Jotaro leaned back in his seat, hat obscuring his eyes. "Still bothering me from the grave... anyways, what was the other reason you stayed on earth, Polnareff?"

Polnareff cleared his throat, "well, it has to do with you, Giorno," the blondes eyes snapped up.

"What about me?" The mafioso asked.

Polnareff sighed,

"To be more specific, it has to do with your father, DIO. And I felt as though Jotaro could explain some parts of it better than I-"

"Good grief Polnareff... alright, I guess we can tell him," he gave a pointed look at the Mob boss, "if your up for hearing it, that is."

Giorno nodded determinedly, "I want to know as much about my father as possible."

Jotaro sighed, "in that case, were gonna go back about a century..." Jotaro stopped, and pinched his nose, and after a moment of quiet thought, began anew, "it all started when my great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Joestar..."

———

Giorno was standing at the pier, leaning in the railing while silently watching the reflections of the setting sun play upon the water.

His mind had reached a point of strange tranquility upon hearing Jotaro's tale, and was deep in thought of the nature of his Father.

He had always wondered who the man was, his mother never provided a good answer, and he sometimes dreamed up the idea of his father emerging from a distant land to save him from the wrathful abuses of his step-father.

But those dreams were sadly fantasy, for perhaps his true father was crueler a man than his step-father ever could be.

_"We told you all the we collectively knew, so..." Jotaro had looked straight into his eyes, "are you going to try to take revenge for your pops?"_

_He had been mildly shocked by the suggestion, but had seriously considered it, before coming to a conclusion._

_"There would be no point, My father and I had deffering visions, dreams and wants, I am not him and he was not me. There is no point following the wishes of a man I never knew." Giorno had responded._

Giorno thought about what might've happened if his father had lived, and realized it would've harmed everyone a lot more than it could've _potentially _benefited himself, Josuke and Holly didn't deserve death for the sake of a _potentially _better childhood for himself.

Jotaro had done the right thing, his dreams had outshone his father's, but there was another aspect to the story that he was thinking about.

_'Jonathan Joestar...' _he pondered, the name brought a strange warm feeling to his chest and he wasn't sure why, he should feel no more warmth for him than he did DIO, but...

The story of how he was mistreated by DIO, and his unrelenting spirit in spite of it, was something worthy of a statue in Giorno's eyes, he viewed the sacrifices made by the man as a quality and level of dreams that he could never truly compete with, as if the man had been shining as bright and as beautiful as a shooting star, only to disappear just as fast.

Giorno subconciously tubbed his star birthmark, and looked into the sky. To Giorno, the man seemed higher than a Saint.

———

"Well... you seem to have a full life ahead of you, Jotaro." Polnareff commented. The sun was hanging low in the distance, it's life almost snuffed.

"... Yeah." Jotaro responded distantly, his eyes following the setting sun.

The two sat in silence for awhile, listening to the buzz of the city behind them, while beholding the beautiful laziness of the sea in front of them.

"... Jotaro, the reasons I hung onto this life have been fulfilled." Polnareff spoke solemnly.

Jotaro kept staring into the distance.

"I know our reunion was very brief, but I have no reason to stay. I have no family to return to, no love I am able to pursue, I have only a few friends on this side of existence. And I can't _fight _anymore, Silver Chariot is lost to me, and with it an important part of my being." Polnareff looked at his old friend, eyes imploring him to say something, _anything, _and yet-

"I know." Jotaro spoke up, his gaze not leaving the setting sun.

Polnareff smiled sadly, "I'll see you on the other side, Mon ami."

And with that, Polnareff's body turned translucent, before finally fading into nothing.

Jotaro straightened his hat, and silently walked away. Though not even his pure silence could mask the sounds of tears hitting stone.


End file.
